FutureLearn announces new free online courses open for registration
The following free, online courses are open for registration on FutureLearn, the social learning platform and the first UK-led MOOC (massive open online course) provider.
To register click here.
Study Skills for International Students
University of East Anglia
Start date: 24 November
Length: 4 weeks, 2 hours per week
This course looks at some of the key skills that international students need in order to be successful at a UK university. It pulls on the experiences of international students and focuses on specific challenges they have identified. Over the four weeks of the course you will hear top tips from international students already studying at university in the UK. You will also hear UEA teachers talking about the key skills that international students need to do well.
Improving Your Image: Dental Photography in Practice
University of Birmingham
Start date: 05 January
Length: 4 weeks, 5 hours per week
This course will cover all aspects of the use of digital photography in dental practice: intra-oral, extra-oral, and portraits. Participants will be taken through photography, from the basics of choosing correct equipment and setting it up, to optimum settings, techniques for consistent imaging and the safe storage of images. The course is taught by the team that delivers the online masters degree course in Advanced General Dental Practice from the School of Dentistry at the University of Birmingham UK. No previous knowledge is necessary, but there will be certain requirements in terms of equipment necessary to complete the course – particularly access to a digital SLR camera.
Tackling the Global Food Crisis: Sustainable Agri-food Systems
Queen’s University Belfast
Start date: 5 January
Length: 4 weeks, 2 hours per week
This is the second course in a two-part series by Queen’s University Belfast looking at issues concerning the maintenance and enhancement of global food supplies whilst improving human well-being in the developed and developing world. It will focus on threats to global food security and challenges which need to be overcome in order to maintain healthy and sustainable food supplies. The course will begin by looking at global food insecurity and the potential consequences for human health. It will continue on to examine threats to global food security posed by parasites which undermine the health of animals and plants, damaging food production systems globally. It will look at approaches to sustaining healthy agri-food systems such as the benefits of applied genetics for fisheries management and aquaculture. The course will conclude by considering societal concerns around animal welfare as pressure builds to increase production intensity whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Please note that the first course in this series, Tackling the Global Food Crisis: Supply Chain Integrity is not a pre-requisite for taking this course.
The Open University
Start date: 12 January
Length: 8 weeks, 3 hours per week
With real incomes falling and personal debt at a record high, there has never been a better time to improve your personal financial skills – ‘Managing my money’ aims to do just that. The course starts by giving you practical guidance on how to compile a budget and use it to make good decisions about your spending. You’ll explore debts and investments, and find out how mortgages are used to finance home ownership. The critical issue of pension planning is explained, with guidance on different pension products. The course concludes by examining different types of insurance and offers practical advice on how to make rational decisions about which insurance products to buy.
The Open University
Start date: 2 February
Length: 8 weeks, 3 hours per week
There are lots of moons in our solar system. The earth is the only planet with just a single moon. Some moons are bigger than ours; many are much smaller. There are even tiny moons orbiting some of the asteroids. Some have ongoing volcanic eruptions; others are dead, heavily cratered lumps. One has rivers and lakes of liquid methane. Our own moon has resources that could help open the solar system for future exploration. A small handful of moons have conditions below their surfaces where primitive life might exist. Sign up to explore the rich diversity of moons, the fundamental processes that have shaped them, and the relationship between the Moon and the Earth.
